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Detroit Science Center's rescuer wants it to reopen as soon as fall

The Detroit Science Center building could reopen as soon as this fall, operating under a new name and new nonprofit, the Michigan Science Center.

"That's what they … expect they'll be able to do," said Ron Weiser, founder of McKinley Associates Inc. in Ann Arbor, national finance chairman for the Republican National Committee and former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party.

Weiser, who is also a former U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, recently acquired the science center's debt from Citizens Bank of Flint for "significantly less" than the roughly $6.2 million owed, saving its building and assets from being sold to the highest bidder at a public auction.

The science center's debt was tied to its 2001 expansion and a $1 million line of credit.

The center's board, which is leading the fundraising to reopen and operate the museum, declined any comment on a specific timetable or plan for reopening.

"There are a number of moving parts that need to be aligned before we can finalize things," Shelly Otenbaker, a senior vice president at Eisbrenner Public Relations and the trustee spokeswoman for the science center board, wrote in an email.

Weiser said, "Hopefully, they will acquire it and open it this coming fall."

Weiser decided to get involved in trying to save the Detroit Science Center after reading about its predicament and U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke's plan to try and get federal money to help.

"I realized the chances of getting money from Washington during these times were highly unlikely in time to keep the thing from being closed."

Weiser had the CFO at McKinley contact Citizens Bank which indicated it had reached the end of the line and was planning on foreclosing on the center.

He consulted with his wife, Eileen Lappin Weiser, a member of the Michigan Board of Education, who reminded him she'd taken their 11-year-old son to the science center last year and been very impressed with the hands-on activities. Before she left, she'd written them a pretty sizable check, Weiser said.

At his wife's suggestion, he also talked with Margaret Trimer-Hartley, superintendent of the University Prep Science & Math schools which include a public charter middle school which operates from the building adjoining the science center.

Trimer-Hartley said it was an important asset and anything that could be done to save it would be a good thing, he said.

So, said Weiser, "I did what I did for 40 years which was making deals—I talked with the bank and got it for substantially less than what was owed."

He plans to maintain the property and make it available to the Michigan Science Center when it has money in hand to reopen and operate.

Nonprofits get into financial problems because they overreach and start to borrow, said Weiser, who is no stranger to nonprofits.

In addition to serving on numerous boards — including, currently, the Detroit Institute of Arts' — he has chaired nonprofit boards including the Michigan Theater and Artrain Inc. in Ann Arbor, The Henry Ford (and Greenfield Village) and Nonprofit Enterprise at Work.NEWwas established with support from the McKinley Foundation,which Weiser and his wife founded.

In order to sell the building and its assets back to the science center board," Weiser said, "what I require is that it be a debt-free entity and have resources to operate."

Weiser plans to sell the building and its contents back to the science center board for less than the amount he acquired if for, minus legal fees and closing costs. "I'm not making money on the deal," he added.

Additionally, Weiser said he and his wife are making a contribution to the science center.

The center is "an incredibly valuable asset for kids in Southeast Michigan … one of the few assets that really focuses them on opportunities for their future."

"It's got to open again. If they don't get the money, … I'll help whatever nonprofit wants to go forward with this."